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A better Gameplay recorder

WaXT

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Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Messages
215 (0.04/day)
Location
Makati, PH
System Name Apollo's Bow
Processor Core i5-760
Motherboard MSI P55-GD55
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Memory Kingston 6GB DDR3 1600 RAM 2x3
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon HD5770
Storage Seagate 500GB 7200RPM | WD 160GB Caviar Blue 7200RPM
Display(s) Samsung LA22B350F2 22" HDMI
Case NZXT Apollo
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Thermaltake Lite-power 600w
Software Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (OEM)
Benchmark Scores Never benchmarked
HELP.

I've always wanted to record my gameplay of BF3 and other games that had just released, to show off to my friends. I always use fraps, but this time I'm a little disappointed. I played BF3 and was recording the first mission on the train (high settings). IT LAGS LIKE HELL. (room has airconditioning) and I'm saying that it lags because when I don't record, the fps goes smooth like 60-90 ON HIGH SETTINGS. When I record, it only goes to 20-40.

I did a little research if there's an alternative to Fraps, and I have found Bandicam. Accorrding to people's reviews, there is a higher possibility that it doesn't lag your games. I tried it out, but it ended pretty much the same. But yes, it does lag less than Fraps.

I need a little help. How do you fix Fraps/ Bandicam's Lag? They're giving me a headache :mad:
or is there a better one? besides having to put a cam infront of the screen. I can't do that because the audio would not be recorded very clearly(cause i live right beside of a road where thousands of vehicles go through each day), and there is a possibility that the lighting would be changed.
 
MSI afterburner is supposed to work well, don't know about the performance impact.
 
you need a really good gpu and cpu to get good framerates with fraps
 
For best results try recording fraps onto another HDD.
 
Also make sure that the destination folder/file is not NTFS compressed, since the compression of the data real-time makes up for a lot of the lag (at least on my comp.).
 
And set the video capture to 25fps.
Use half-size if HD resolution is not important. 720p is enough if you're going to upload it to youtube.
 
For best results try recording fraps onto another HDD.

I have tried that. My first HDD was 160GB then i transfered fraps and it's saves on a 500GB. Experienced less lag, but there is still a lag, and a lot.

And set the video capture to 25fps.
Use half-size if HD resolution is not important. 720p is enough if you're going to upload it to youtube.

My screen resolution is only 720p (1360x768).. is 25 fps smooth enough? :) I think 30fps is the smooth one tho, not sure. what would happen if I half-sized mine?
 
MSI Afterburner has several quality settings, you may also wanna record at ~30FPS, its useful if you want to upload it on a streaming site such as youtube, since it converts all videos to ~30fps anyway.
 
My screen resolution is only 720p (1360x768).. is 25 fps smooth enough? :) I think 30fps is the smooth one tho, not sure. what would happen if I half-sized mine?

When recording for youtube, 20FPS is smooth enough for gameplay videos. But I would use 30FPS for youtube, since that is what youtube's videos stream at. I user MSI Afterburner with MJPEG compression and 95% quality, and experience no noticeable lag at all in games.

And if you halved your resolution you would get 680x384, so not even 480p. You don't want to do that if you are using 720p already. In fact, IMO, you don't even want to do that if you are using 1080p, as it yeilds lower than 720p recordings. Just set the in game resolution to what you want it to record at.
 
MSI Afterburner has several quality settings, you may also wanna record at ~30FPS, its useful if you want to upload it on a streaming site such as youtube, since it converts all videos to ~30fps anyway.

Alright, i will try it!

When recording for youtube, 20FPS is smooth enough for gameplay videos. But I would use 30FPS for youtube, since that is what youtube's videos stream at. I user MSI Afterburner with MJPEG compression and 95% quality, and experience no noticeable lag at all in games.

And if you halved your resolution you would get 680x384, so not even 480p. You don't want to do that if you are using 720p already. In fact, IMO, you don't even want to do that if you are using 1080p, as it yeilds lower than 720p recordings. Just set the in game resolution to what you want it to record at.

Thanks!
 
When recording for youtube, 20FPS is smooth enough for gameplay videos. But I would use 30FPS for youtube, since that is what youtube's videos stream at. I user MSI Afterburner with MJPEG compression and 95% quality, and experience no noticeable lag at all in games.

And if you halved your resolution you would get 680x384, so not even 480p. You don't want to do that if you are using 720p already. In fact, IMO, you don't even want to do that if you are using 1080p, as it yeilds lower than 720p recordings. Just set the in game resolution to what you want it to record at.

I will check this, because Camstudio using the xfire codec (the codec that that gaming program "Xfire" provides) gives crap results even with Minecraft in a small window of a few hundred by a few hundred pixels). Oh, I am using Camstudio instead of Xfire itself because the lock on what games it works with (game must be recognised by the program).
And BTW, I have only few codecs installed in Windows (only those provided by VLC and Avidemux, in fact).
 
I will check this, because Camstudio using the xfire codec (the codec that that gaming program "Xfire" provides) gives crap results even with Minecraft in a small window of a few hundred by a few hundred pixels). Oh, I am using Camstudio instead of Xfire itself because the lock on what games it works with (game must be recognised by the program).
And BTW, I have only few codecs installed in Windows (only those provided by VLC and Avidemux, in fact).

Conveniently the MJPG codec is native to pretty much every OS. So no need to install 3rd party codecs to record or view the videos. The only down side is the size of the videos.

Edit: The only downside of Afterburner seems to be not like Minecraft, I have to force Minecraft to run in 32-bit for it to work.
 
Last edited:
Well I had to install it with K-lite (using FFDshow) in order to let it "appear" in Camstudio (and Debut which seemed to perform a bit better).
 
Afterburner worked like a charm.. but when I saw the video It was pixelated. and the sound wasn't recorded:(
 
For best results try recording fraps onto another HDD.

THIS. I find that this is the most common problem. I rarely have problems recording video I used to do GRID at full settings and crysis. I only ever had a problem when it was writing to the same drive as the game. you need to split the work loads.
 
THIS. I find that this is the most common problem. I rarely have problems recording video I used to do GRID at full settings and crysis. I only ever had a problem when it was writing to the same drive as the game. you need to split the work loads.

I did that already.. effective, but there are still lags. :)
 
Afterburner worked like a charm.. but when I saw the video It was pixelated. and the sound wasn't recorded:(

You probably have to adjust some settings, the default settings aren't ideal for most recordings, IMO. By default it is set to 1/2 Frame recording, which isn't what you want if you are already playing at 720p.

Make sure you have the latest version of Afterburner as well(2.2.0 Beta 9). It has a lot of improvements related to video capture, specifically with audio capture. I believe capturing audio from multiple sources, IE Microphone and game, was added in one of the recent Betas. That might be why you aren't getting audio.
 
have a cpu with 2 or more cores (not pentium d)
record to a disk besides OS disk
25 fps
half size
nocurser
nosync

if you still get problems remove the frame rate counter
if you still get problems reinstall/update your graphic drivers

if you still get problems give up
 
have a cpu with 2 or more cores (not pentium d)
record to a disk besides OS disk
25 fps
half size
nocurser
nosync

if you still get problems remove the frame rate counter
if you still get problems reinstall/update your graphic drivers

if you still get problems give up

15522.jpg
 
are you using a green drive? 5400rpm?
nope. was using seagate 7200rpm and wd blue 160gb

You probably have to adjust some settings, the default settings aren't ideal for most recordings, IMO. By default it is set to 1/2 Frame recording, which isn't what you want if you are already playing at 720p.

Make sure you have the latest version of Afterburner as well(2.2.0 Beta 9). It has a lot of improvements related to video capture, specifically with audio capture. I believe capturing audio from multiple sources, IE Microphone and game, was added in one of the recent Betas. That might be why you aren't getting audio.

I downloaded the latest, not the beta one. lol. I will try it,


can't view it on any browser. must be the cause of my connection. :banghead:
 
Okay, I'm reading reverze's link now
 
i use fraps on my system and record full screen, 30fps. no lag. no stutter!
and i record on my 80gb hdd. which is also my os drive.

you just have a crappy multitasking CPU.
 
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